News Exclusive: Scott Bakula Eyeing Star Trek Return In President Archer Series Pitch From ‘Enterprise’ Producer

[FederationHistorian]

That sounds absolutely awful as a premise for a new Star Trek show. Even the memberberries don’t know why anybody would care about any of that.

I could pitch a Lost Era show, with heavy Monster Maroon representation, and you’d consider it awful.

If my creative ideas are not to your tastes, fine. I’m not losing sleep over it.

But it’s probably a good idea to pitch and discuss such ideas ahead of time. Part of what sank Enterprise was that their ideas and characterizations of the characters were half-baked before it when into production, with some of their better ideas being left on the cutting room floor. Especially for poor Mayweather. It wasn’t until those ideas and characterizations were jettisoned that the show found it’s stride.

And as a prequel, United will have to deal with those that obsess about continuity. Which is not just the prime timeline, but the Kelvinverse as well.

In honesty, the more I hear about this pitch, the more expensive it's starting to sound.

The most recent Sci-Finatics video on the subject discussed the depiction of the attack on Salem Station 4, which is a big historical event in the Trek universe (that I really couldn't remember, but was mentioned several times in the Berman era).

Political meetings and long negotiations on Babel was one thing, but to fully realise Sussman's pitch may not be as cheap as first assumed. It's tough to cost these things when they're just a idea, anyway.

It think it depends on how many bottle episodes they have set on Starfleet One.

The destruction of Salem Station was what started the Romulan War iirc.

Canonically, we know nothing about Station Salem One other than it was a "bloody preamble to war" similar to Pearl Harbor. Which comes from TNG The Enemy. A quick search on Memory Beta doesn't indicate tie-in material has ever addressed what or when Salem One is, so there's no reason to believe it was connected to the Romulan War.

Station Salem-One was intended to be related to the start of the Federation-Klingon conflict in the 2220s. And a Crusher ancestor was supposed to have died in the attack (that bit was left on the cutting room floor). A search on Memory Alpha can confirm this.

Starbase 1 was supposed to be the starbase the Romulans destroyed, though it’s not clear as to what planet it was situated on; beta canon is conflicted as to whether it was on Algeron or Berengaria VII. Though it may be intended to be a planetside starbase instead of an orbital one. And different from the Starbase 1 that’s seen in DIS/SNW and the Kelvin films that orbits Earth.

But United could still set up the origins of Station Salem-One. As the Federation is expanding and the Klingon Empire is also expanding. Both powers eventually will butt heads.

Combining Trek and The West Wing would make for a VERY talky series. Trek is about action, not diplomats endlessly walking and talking down hallways.

No more than TNG was.

The real challenge is that The West Wing deals in neoliberal platitudes. And TOS was created during the era of The Great Society and New Deal liberalism.

And United has to thread the needle going from The West Wing values to TOS/Star Trek values.

The Kurtzman era itself has been very...centrist, in comparison.

I think they might try to do something for the upcoming 60th next year, but I suspect they'll just simply ride on their current SFA project, re-re-re-release some repackaged BRD box sets, maybe some Trek-related trinkets - the kind of things that non-fans buy their significant other fans for birthdays and holidays, for no other reason than, "It's from that Star Track show with that Dr. Spock guy, right? They'll love it!!!"

Technically anything released between September 2026 and August 2027 can commemorate the 60th anniversary. It’s just preferable if it’s in 2026 than 2027.

Only SFA S1 and SNW S4 seemed to be lined up for the 60th anniversary.

All of these ‘projects’ (Legacy, Year One, United, the completely made-up Janeway show, etc.) were ideas pre-merger, yet people seem to think that they will still actually happen (even though pre-merger, there was little chance of them happening anyway.)

No. We have ideas of potential series that are worth discussion to see if they are worth going anywhere with.

If you haven’t found examples of people here who think this, I’d be happy to provide you with some in a PM.

If your accusations have any weight, you should not have to hide behind a PM. I certainly don’t think United’s a sure thing. And I’m not even sure if the project should go ahead if Kurtzman’s contract get renewed, since the Kurtzman era has a mixed record and frequently walks back a lot of interesting ideas (i.e Lorca, pre MU reveal), which sticking by terrible ones (genetic determinism for both the mirror universe & in 4.5 Vulcans, for example). It’s also managed to scrub the shine off of SNW this past season, and SNW does not delve into the weighty subjects a United show possibly would like to explore.

I am more enthusiastic about the idea of United though. It's different from having a show set on a starship named Enterprise.

If they made this show, Archer's top Starfleet captain would be Kirk's great-grandfather, and Spock's granddaddy would be the Vulcan Ambassador or some wanky shit.

They won't be able to help themselves.

As Spock’s grandfather was intended to be the Vulcan Ambassador during the Romulan War in the Star Trek: The Beginning script, that’s possible.

 

[Daedalus]

It think it depends on how many bottle episodes they have set on Starfleet One.

That's a fair point

 

[Takeru]

But it’s probably a good idea to pitch and discuss such ideas ahead of time. Part of what sank Enterprise was that their ideas and characterizations of the characters were half-baked before it when into production, with some of their better ideas being left on the cutting room floor. Especially for poor Mayweather. It wasn’t until those ideas and characterizations were jettisoned that the show found it’s stride.

I think you overestimate how much pitching, developing and planning ahead actually helps. Of course there needs to be script and if it's an ongoing series some ideas where it's going to go but very rarely do these things not change during production. The reality is that both movies and tv almost always change during filming and post production, some ideas work out other don't and are changed, some actors have incredible chemistry and unplanned friendships or romances happen between characters as a result, other ideas are dropped.

And I believe ideas and characterizations should be half-baked before production, that's not a problem, that's a strength, there should be enough to get a sense of direction for characters but there should also be room to develop characters more and write to the strengths of the actor.
To keep the food allegory, pre-production is looking up some recipes for a multi course meal and getting the ingredients, production is cooking the meal and adjusting when something unexpected happens and post production is setting the table, plating the food and creating a nice atmosphere.